Introducing Undergraduates to Research Through Solar Flares, Python, and Amateur Radio

In an effort to introduce research and scientific writing earlier to physics and engineering undergraduate students, we designed a Space Physics Project in Fall of 2021 to add to Foundations of Physics and Engineering at the University of Scranton. Foundations of Physics and Engineering is comprised primarily of first-year physics, mechanical and electrical engineering students. While the Space Physics Project may be considered a niche area, the skills involved are very beneficial to all physics and engineering students. The Space Physics Project included data analysis and a written scientific report. Students were given python Jupyter notebooks that organized the data from GOES-15 satellite, WSRPNet, and RBN. From there, the students were to identify where a solar flare occurred and how the amateur radio signals were impacted (i.e. radio blackouts). In addition to the data analysis, students were to read and summarize a research article as well as write their results in a scientific format. The last piece of this project was an oral presentation. This presentation will highlight what we would repeat in this project as well as offer discussion for how to improve it in the upcoming semesters. Overall, this project complemented the existing course and we believe the skills learned in this 100-level course will serve the students very well in their careers.